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Monday, December 9, 2013

1880s Autograph Album of Will P. Wight of Otisfield, Maine, and East Douglas, Massachusetts

1880s autograph album of Will P. Wight of Otisfield, Maine, and East Douglas, Massachusetts.

The album is approximately 7-1/2" x 5" and contains the sentiments of over thirty of Will's relatives and friends in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.From online research, hopefully correct: [corrections and additions welcome!]Will P. Wight, or William P. Wight, was born about 1857 in either Nova Scotia, New Brunswick or Hingham, Massachusetts, depending on the differing information on records. He was the son of Jesse D. Wight and Eunice Aurelia (Riley) Wight, who were born at Otisfield, Maine, and Ardize Hill, Nova Scotia, respectively.Either Eunice alone or her family had moved to the Hingham, Massachusetts, area, where Eunice was living at the time of her marriage to Jessie D. Wight. Jesse was working as a blacksmith there or at Otisfield, Maine.Eunice Aurelia (Riley) Wight signed a page in her son Will's album.

Will's brother David H. Wright signed a page near the front of his album.

In the 1880 Census, Will P. Wight was living in the home of his parents at Otisfield, Maine, but apparently soon after he moved to East Douglas, Massachusetts, where he was living at the time he started compiling autographs in his album.

Shortly after his arrival in Massachusetts, apparently, he married Harriet Simpson, who was born about January 1858 in Massachusetts. I found a birth record for a Jesse E. Wight, born to Will and Hattie, on 21 October 1882 at East Douglas, Massachusetts.If you have corrections and/or additions to the information above, or information on any of the signers mentioned below, please leave a comment or contact me directly. Thanks!List of signers: [Note: given names within a specific surname may not be in alphabetical order.]

Ella M. Baldwin of Brookline, New Hampshire, signed at Nashua, New Hampshire, on May 10, 1881

Edith M. Briggs, signed at Wayne, Maine, on May 18, 1881. Her surname runs off the page so that only Brig is visible, so her surname may be something other than Briggs, but where there was an Edith M. Briggs living at Otisfield, Maine, in the 1870 Census, I think Briggs is correct.

Rosina P. Bunker

James A. Clement, N.B.B., of Nashua, New Hampshire

Emma J. Clement of Nashua, New Hampshire, signed on May 11, 1881. "When treated with apples always select the Baldwins; they are the best."

G. Coburn [not sure of surname], signed at Nashua, New Hampshire, on May 12, 1881; middle initial might be U or N or H or ?

Mabel N. Cummings of West Waterville, Maine, signed on July 8, 1881

Cora J. Cummings

Horace Eugene Dawes of Harrison, Maine, signed on May 17, 1881 at the age of 8 months. This was signed in a nice hand so it wasn't a case of someone helping Horace write; rather, someone else, possibly his mother Pamelia R. (Wight) Dawes, or his grandmother Eunice Aurelia (Riley) Wight signed for him. Eunice signed the following page, and the handwriting is very similar, so I believe it was she who signed Horace's page.